New Public Video

During development it's easy to dismiss many glitches and other issues due to things being unfinished and as you know we are developing all technology in house. As we endeavoured to make this video we became determined to solve every issue we encountered rather than avoiding them or using temporary workarounds. We are after all making a game, not just videos. The game is now very stable, the perfomance is solid and we removed every glitch we could find.

While the game still deserves many tweaks and improvements, and we want to continue improving it almost indefinitely, we feel we've reached a good level of quality and functionality. We've avoided showing some aspects of the game that we don't feel are complete enough yet but we tried to convey the spirit of the game in the video's narrative. Hope you enjoy it!

Comments

This looks extremely promising and - above all - very unique! Your whole approach seems so different than anything I've seen in this genre and, at the same time, very consequent and thorough. I personally do not care if the running animation looks strange, as long as it fits into the context of the overall concept of body physics that you guys pursue in this project. So, considering your small budget, I hope you will continue to focus on the core mechanics which seem to be quite revolutionary... that's just my humble opinion. Anyway, big respect to you guys, and keep up the great work!

Thanks for the update. While what I see in this new video looks nice, what I saw in the video from last year when you started the Kickstarter, that also looks nice. Comparing the two videos, I'm seeing much the same things. It's fine if most of what you are doing is working under the hood, like bug fixes you mentioned above, but maybe you can summarize what has been accomplished in the last year and what changes we should be looking at, when you post the videos.

Thanks for the new video. As always, the game looks impressive. But I have to say that's I'm disappointed : I expected much, like example of interaction with npc or a sample of storytelling. It will be for the next time, I guess...

Takes shield from wall, disappears between weapon swings, teleports up walls, trips over chair, Captain Morgans a bench, teleports guy off ledge, ninjas some clothing. Wow!!!!!!!!! I suppose it is possible to raid corpses, carts, and literally anything not bolted down, or which is too large, or too heavy?

It looks as if the functionality of the magic changes in combat, otherwise I would have expected the player to teleported behind the enemy and take a swing before the NPC could react. If this is true, I find it an interesting feature.

Playing the video at high res and full screen, I get the impression that it can zoom out sufficiently, but that it could stand to zoom in more; perhaps so the player character is 25%-50% larger. I think this would be important with the fine weapon control, where as with a game like Diablo zoom level doesn't matter so much, because all attack and defense work regardless of click and mouse movement style. The straight down camera view is a little disconcerting for some reason.

The impacts of the weapons look good to me, but the swings have a distinct marionette quality. I hope we will eventually see more sophisticated melee, with emulation of proper stances, balance through swings, and flow from attack to defense. At one point I noticed the player character wind up a swing, which is something an experienced swordsman wouldn't need to do; kind of like an amateur pulling their fist back, then punching, instead of just punching.

For Pre-Alpha, the core systems look like they are really coming along.
The environment is looking superb.
Combat question, in the video where the Toon is fighting the first man with a sword which our heroine later equips, was she swinging the same sword slower than the original owner?? or is it just me?
I love the interaction with the environment, looks great.
I laughed when you turned her around to equip the castle guards equipment... very modest :-)

Superbacker

Looks great. Awesome work and really what I expect from an interactive world.
A (semi) controlable zoom would be a great feature.
Comments below apply :-D.
Will the collision detection be linked with localized damage and impairments?

Looks great. Love the physical interaction. I think the animation in general is already looking a lot better than previously, but it still needs work, especially in the footwork (needs to anticipate movement more, instead of trailing behind). With the run I think the main problem is that the torso and especially the hips are almost completely static. When the legs are moving like that the hips should be turning a lot and the body twisting to compensate (with the shoulders countering). Also the feet don't seem to really make contact with the ground when running, instead just sort of tapping it (which gives it a robotic feeling). Also the run could adapt more to speed and terrain, taking smaller steps when going slower and anticipating inclines with correct foot placement. Still, impressive strides forward, can't wait to see more!

Looks great but you need to stagger the movement to match the steps so it doesn't look like the characters is sliding. Also people don't swing weapons that slowly, they're not massive weights that we can barely lift up, they're wieldy death machines.

This is looking ever more incredible. The environments are absolutely astonishing and I really like the transition between outdoor and indoor. Especially the lack of loading screen inbetween. Also, dungeon looks like dungeon, and the physics based combat is looking ever more brilliant. I really wish you'll add a decent storytelling layer as well, because that would really make the game Shine.

Looks great. And, whilst that blink spell is cool, I hope for your sake that it's only for testing... it's going to make level design/traps/mazes very difficult otherwise. It would also be an archer/sniper's dream. Blink up to the tower, snipe the guards, blink somewhere else... all kinds of fun for players, all kinds of nightmares for game designers!

I look forward to seeing a new running effect and hearing the characters come to life with some dialogue. But there's no rush - keep doing what you're doing and believe in yourselves. You're doing well so far!

One other question, does the game have to be played from so 'high' up? I'd personally prefer more of a first person/over the shoulder view (so I can see where I'm going, albeit at the expense of seeing what's behind me).

I agree with previous comments: bad running anim (floating static body and just legs moving)...
Everything else is great and VERY promising but I understand there's a lot of work still to do in environmental design etc. Of course also grass/trees, insects, birds... in short flora and fauna are still missing...
Great work on the engine/physics/interaction and AI (I like how the enemy interrupts his blows when player disappears: no fixed anims and real time reaction)! And I like drag'n'drop for items in real-time... fast and efficient.

p.s. Agree with the user Netzbummler: The thing that you meet someone and without any other reason or motivation you need to fight immediately is somehow funny and it spoils the sense of "reality" uterly:)

It looks really fantastic regarding the physics and movement, except the running. The character looks like it is held on some puppet strings from above. It stays in one "balance level" all the time. There is no sense of gravity influencing his/her body which feels a little bit claustrofobic. The rest looks amazing and if this thing is tweaked somehow it will be almost perfect.

Well, apart from the ridiculously bad running animation and the fact that interacting with NPCs right now just means fighting to the death, the game looks really beautiful. However, I feel that right now, it's a very static environment. I do hope that in the final version, it will feature more NPCs, more clutter, more dirt and more signs of human life. Animals would be a nice addition, too. Still, you gave me much hope that my money was not wasted and that the final product will be everything I wished for.

This is my most anticipated game by far. The combat looks awesome. I like how everything is so integrated and realistic, really helps with the immersion. All the new stuff (magic, impersonation) is really great too.

Off the top of my head, a couple of things to watch out for:
-Magic looks overpowered. The combat tricks are fine since I guess killing ogres will still be very hard. I wonder how teleportation will be handled without breaking the game. Still pretty cool if the challenge to get these powers as great as the reward.
-That running animation.
-I hope the game will feature a variety of challenge to meet with those who will master the combat. Also is multiplayer duels a possibility?

I didn't expect that much from the video, everything is so polished. I can only wonder what kind of NPC interaction and interactive world you guys will come up with.
Great work.

After watching 1st minute of the video, I have to leave a comment - the best fight scene in computer games! What you've done is unbelievable. It's so natural, and the world looks great, and the editor is exceptional (I wish they used some of your world generator technology in Diablo). The only thing that bothers me is the running animation, if you nail it, the game should be exceptionally immersive. Keep up with great work!

Beautiful world you are creating. Love the Castle. Combat looks great. I can't wait to try it out when it is ready. The walking needs tweaking like others have said but that it just nit picking compared to all the progress already made.

First things first; I love the water. As a student working with OpenGL I found that incredibly impressive. Liked the spell (BTW do you need those books to learn/perform spells?). I also liked the fact that you could dress up as a guard. If that's a non scripted sequence it's really impressive as very few RPG's take that route unless it's scripted to work in a particular setting.

There were some things related to the animations which I felt was a bit off. That being said were not bad all over but you did get the sensation that the feet of the character and the torso was a bit out of tune at times. Also here running would look more convincing if it varied a bit in pace. Say for instance she could slow down a bit if she was running up a hill or on wet grass or slippery rocks. I think this would be very in-line with your physics system ;)

Keep up the good work (and a happy Yuletide if this should be the last post before X-Mas)

Other games have talked about realistic combat, feeling the weight of melee combat. Oblivion and later Skyrim leap to mind as examples, but this is the first time -- through only a video, not even playing the game -- that I have felt it.

Amazing footage! This makes me extremely thrilled to have backed this project! I really love the realism of the physics and the fighting. Not everyone is going to appreciate the realistic fighting speeds, as some seem to think humans have super strength and speed, but alas, we do not. When hit with a sword, you bleed and are in pain, but you won't fly 20 feet through the air. Bare Mettle understands this!

When giving my honest opinion, here's some (hopefully constructive) criticism; I'm not crazy about the walking animation. The fact it looks like an animation to me, is what makes it slightly unrealistic in my eyes. I'm still undecided if the feet/legs are moving too slow or too fast, but it doesn't seem right. Unlike the rest of the game, which looks astonishingly real. From the lighting, to the way the person places his/her feet when standing halfway on staircases or objects! Falling over is also hilariously realistic.

In my opinion, the 'feel' of a game is the most important of all aspects. If a game feels right, it can have a crappy storyline and it can have horrible graphics, it would still be a great game. Sui Generis sure seems to have an amazing vibe around it, as far as I can tell by looking at these videos. We know the graphics are great, but the storyline? We'll have to see about that but I'm confident you'll get that right as well. Keep up the great work! :)

Looks so great! Love the house decoration. The running does have that floaty mechanical feel, which will be a challenge as it's using the physics engine. I guess it needs that weight to it and the steps feeling like they are planting and making contact.
Hope that teleportation ability is an alpha demo spell ability, or at least incredibly high level Mage thing. You'd never bother walking again!

Can't wait. Combat looks really great. It'd be fun if there was a wounded fighting state and the AI behaving with self preservation in mind.